Hollow tile or brick.



No. 722,249. PATENTED MAR. 10, 1903.

r 0. G. PIXLEY.

HOLLOW TILE OR BRICK. APPLICATION FILED Q0130, 1901.

N0 MODEL.

UNrrn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ORLA C. PIXLEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

HOLLOW TILE OR BRICK.

SPECIFIGATION formingart of Letters Patent No. 722,249, dated March 10, 1903.

Application filed October 30, 1901. $erial No. 80,535- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORLA C. PIXLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hollow Tiles or Bricks, of which the following is a specification.

The hollow tiles referred to in the foregoing are those used in electrical installation and usually are known as underground electrical conduits, and the hollow bricks are such as are employed in constructing walls, foundations, fireproofing, &c., and are known as hollow building-blocks or hollow tile.

The object of this invention is the production of a hollow tile or brick embodying the novel features hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of a portion of a tile embodying the features of my invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view representing two tiles alined by the insertion of locking-pins in channels provided for the reception of said pins. Fig. 3 is a view similar to the last preceding one, showing the pins in position and the method of forming a joint between the adjacent ends of two of my improved tiles. Fig. 4 shows in transverse vertical section a completed joint between the ends of two tiles. Fig.

5 represents the manner of arranging the tiles when two or more of them are laid side by side. In this arrangement the joints in the Several longitudinal series are broken. 6 represents a square locking-pin, Fig. 7 a round locking-pin, and Fig. 8 a lockingpin of U form pressed from sheet metal. Fig. 9 is a fragmental View in perspective of a portion ofa tile, showing a modified form of channel for the locking-pin.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

The tile or brick of my invention is made of clay or other plastic material and is formed in the same manner as that employed in the production of other similar articles. Such tile or brick is usually produced by machineryand afterward dried and burned.

The die of the machine which forms my improved tile is made with projections corresponding to the longitudinal channels depressed in the middle of each of the outer faces of said tile.

A represents the body of the tile, A the interior walls, which divide itinto a number of separate ducts or air-spaces, and A the outer walls of the tile. In the outer faces of the tile I provide the longitudinal channels A These channels extend throughout the length of the tile-body. They may be rectangular, as shown in Fig. 1, or circular and connected to the outer faces of the tile by an intervening channel, as illustrated in Fig. 9. An angular opening might also be arranged diagonally in the tile in a manner similar to that shown in Fig. 9, or the channel illustrated in Fig. 1 may be made in U shape to correspond to the form of the sheet-metal locking-pin illustrated in Fig. 8. The form of the in ner and the outer walls A and A respectively, may be modified at their points of juncture to give sufficient strength to the tile in view of the form of channel for the locking-pin.

B illustrates thelocking-pin, adapted to lie within the channel A and hold the adjacent ends of the tiles in coincidence. The form of pin employed in the construction shown in Fig. 5 is rectangular; but it must of necessity be double the width of the pin B illustrated in Fig. 6, because of the fact that it has two adjacent channels to fill.

B illustrates a cylindrical locking-pin. Such a pin would be employed between tiles provided with the channels illustrated in Fig. 9. B illustrates a sheet-metal locking-pin of U shape in transverse section. In practice such a pin would be formed by pressing it from sheet metal. The U form of the pin might be varied to a more nearly angular cross-section or to a tubular form to accommodate the shape of the pin to the form of the channel in which it was intended to be placed. The pin is formed wider than the channel for which it is intended and is driven into said channel, thus springing the ends of the adjacent tiles into proper alinement.

C represents a strip of fabric adapted to be wrapped around the adjacent ends of the tiles of a longitudinal series. As will appear later herein, this strip of fabric is drawn tight and held in position by driving the upper lockingpin into the channels A at the adjacent ends of the tiles.

D is the covering of cement at the joints between the ends of adjacent tiles.

It is in- IOO tended to be spread over the fabric 0 and to take a bearing upon the tiles, which it does by being forced into the channels A at the ends of the locking-pin B. When sheet-metal pins B such as are shown in Fig. 8, are employed, the trough or concave side of the pin is filled with cement, and when channels of the form shown in Fig. 9 are employed the upper part of the channel is filled, as well as a portion of the entire channel at the ends of the locking-pins B.

In practice the locking-pins may be made of wood, metal, or clay, and when the form of pin shown in Fig. 8 is used it may be filled with cement after it is put into place to give it additional strength. In joining together tiles embodying myinvention they are placed end to end, and the locking-pins B of a form corresponding with that of the channels A in the body of the tile are placed in said channels.

In tiles having dowel-pin openings within their interior much difficulty is experienced in properly joining them together and in getting the dowel pin or pins into position. In performing this operation cement is usually spread upon the bottom of the trench wherein the tiles are being laid and a strip of binding fabric laid upon the cement. The dowel-pin is then put in place and the adjacent ends of the tiles forced together. This on account of the roughness of the tiles moves the cloth, frequently wrinkling it in a fold between the adjacent ends of the tiles,,preventing a close joint.

In forming the joint with tiles of my invention mortar is first spread, the wrap (J then put in place, a locking-pin inserted into the end of the channel A in the under side of the laid tile, and the next succeeding tile in the series lowered vertically into position, so that the projecting end of the locking-pin enters the channel in the lower face of the tile being installed. Locking-pins are next placed in the channels at the sides of the tile and the wrap lapped tightly over the top of the tiles. A locking-pin is then placed over the channel A in the upper face of the adjacent tiles and driven into place in said channel, one end of the pin lying in the channel of the tile already set and the other end in the channel of the tile last laid. The driving of the pin into its channel carries the cloth beneath it, wedging said cloth into the channel between the walls thereof and the sides of the pin and drawing the fabric taut. The top and sides of the joint are then made tight by a layer of cement, as shown in Fig. 4, which when hard makes a joint impervious toI moisture and as strong as the body of the ti 0.

As hereinbefore stated, when tiles are laid as shown in Fig. 5-that is to say, where several longitudinal series extend side by sidethe joints between the ends of the tiles are broken. The locking-pins illustrated in this figure are of double width to permit them to fill the two coinciding channels A in the meeting faces of adjacent tiles.

When a channelsimilar to that. illustrated in Fig. 9 is employed, the body portion of which is either round, as shown in said figure, or angular in cross-section to receive an angular locking-pin, the locking-pin is put into place when the tiles are placed end to end and afterward moved longitudinally in the channel, if desirable, to bring it into a proper position with reference to the ends of the tiles.

Tiles embodying my invention when laid are prevented from rotatory,vertical,or transverse displacement by reason of the advantageous position of thelocking-pins. To hold these pins firmly in place, I force the cement of the joint which surrounds the adjacent ends of the tiles into the channels A at the ends of the locking-pins. This firm bond between the cement joint and the tiles obviates the necessity of scarification-to wit, a roughening of the tiles near their ends to provide a seat for the proper adhesion of the cement. These scarifications are made in other tiles by a hand operation, and as this necessitates an additional handling of the tile while green it is somewhat expensive, besides tending to distort the plastic tile, and said scarifications weaken the finished product.

Difierences in the moisture of the clay from which tiles are made and differences in the degree of heat to which they are subjected in vitrifying cause variations in the size of the finished tiles. Tiles which depend for the coincidence of their ducts upon the insertion of internal dowel-pins are frequently found to present offsets or shoulders where the ducts of one tile join those of the next adjacent tile. In

tiles of my improved construction any shrinkage which may occur is automatically equalized in setting the tile by the four lockingpins, one on each side of the tile.

Tile-forming machines tend to impart to the plastic tile as it leaves the machine an axially rotary motion. This is on account of the continuous auger-feed of the plastic material within the machine. The projections of the die necessary to form the channels A in my improved tile successfully resist this rotatory tendency. The absence of the internal dowel-pin openings permits the ducts within the tile to be larger and to be formed and disposed regardless of intervening dowelpin openings.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination with a series of tiles or conduits placed end to end, each of said tiles or conduits having two or more longitudinal channels formed in its periphery, of lockingpins adapted to lie within said channels; and a wrap for the joint so formed, which wrap is held in position by being wedged between the walls of one of said channels and the locking-pin within said channel;

2. The combination with a series of tiles or conduits placed end to end, each of said tiles or conduits having longitudinal channels formed substantially at opposite points in its periphery, of locking pins adapted to lie within said channels; and a wrap for the joint so formed, which wrap is held in position by being wedged between the walls of one of said channels and the locking pin within said channel.

3. The combination with a series of tiles or conduits placed end to end, each of said tiles or conduits being provided with two or more longitudinal channels formedinits periphery, oflocking-pins adapted to lie within said channels to hold adjacent tiles of said series in their proper relative positions; a wrap placed over the contiguous ends of adjacent tiles and held in position by being wedged between the walls of one of said channels and the lockingpin lying in said channel; and a bond of cement or other plastic material for coveming the joint between said adjacent tiles.

4. As a new article of manufacture, a locking-pin for hollow tiles or conduits, formed from sheet metal and having spring sides adapted to engage the walls of the channel into which it is intended to be placed.

5. As a new article of manufacture, alocking-pin for hollow tiles or conduits, formed from sheet metal and being substantially of U shape in cross-section.

6. As a new article of manufacture, a locking-pin for hollow tiles or conduits, formed from sheet metal, being substantially of U shape in cross-section and having divergent spring sides adapted to engage the walls of the channelsinto which it is intended to be placed.

ORLA O. PIXLEY.

\Vitnesses:

L. L. MILLER, GEO. L. CHINDAHL. 

